Google Creative Lab has announced the launch of a new project aimed specifically at the little Raspberry Pi developer board. The product is called Coder and let users easily transform the Raspberry Pi into a basic web server with a web-based development environment. The tool was created by Google’s Jason Striegel, Jeff Baxter, and a […]
We have seen our fair share of projects that have involved the super small Raspberry Pi computer, and most of these are just pure genius in nature. There is always the line that we would like to cross from time to time, pushing the boundaries to explore new possibilities, and while it is theoretically possible to transform a Raspberry Pi into a web server, the real truth is, it ain’t that easy. The folks over at Google might have just unraveled the mystery and made things a whole lot easier by streamlining the process via its latest Coder project.
Google’s Coder is an open source tool which would enable developers to construct web apps for a ready-made Raspberry Pi web server, and the only thing that they need would be a desktop browser, now how cool is that? Coder will be able to manage the entire slew of files, media included, and the Raspberry Pi needs just a network connection and an SD memory card reader to get going. Other than the hardware, Coder would remain free to use, although it weighs in at a rather hefty 1.04GB download. Even if you are a new coders, it does not matter as you can use Coder to craft small projects in HTML, CSS, and Javascript, all directly from the web browser itself.
Google Coder Allows You To Build Raspberry Pi Apps In A Browser original content from Ubergizmo. 
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If you like DVDs but also like shelf space, have we got a project for you. Called Jack the Ripper, this Raspberry Pi-powered system takes DVDs from one pile, drops them into a DVD drive for ripping, and then tugs them out and onto another spindle. Ad infinitum.
Andy Ayre created the system when he realized that ripping his whole DVD collection would take way too much time. Like all good hackers, he designed and printed a complete solution using motors, microprocessors, and an old laptop.
You can download the project here and build your own or you can read Ayre’s detailed and well-written description of his project on his website. While I doubt any of us will need this thing anymore, it’s nice to know we can rip ourselves some DVDs using robots these days. What, I ask you, will they think of next?
Andy Ayre turned to 3D printing to help solve his first world problem. His wife has a “huge DVD collection” and they were running out of space to store them all. Andy started ripping the DVDs, but he eventually got tired of changing the disc in the DVD drive every hour or so. Since he just acquired a 3D printer, he decided he’d print a robot that will swap the discs for him.
Andy calls his buddy Jack the Ripper. In simple terms, Jack has two trays and one arm. You place the DVDs to be ripped on one of the trays and the arm will grab one disc and place it on the DVD drive. When your computer is done ripping, the drive pops open and Jack goes back to work. He takes out the disc that’s just been ripped, places it on his other tray then grabs a new one to place on the drive.
Like many other pet projects, building Jack the Ripper is hilariously complicated, especially when you consider it’s meager capabilities. Then again, the fact that it works is just a bonus. Andy probably had loads of fun designing and building Jack. Build a robot that will click on this link to Andy’s website for more on Jack.
[via Hack A Day]
As the quantified self movement continues to pick up momentum, the range of consumer devices tracking physiological signals is set to expand. But harvesting bio-signals requires specialist kit — which can be either expensive to buy or tricky to put together yourself for prototyping purposes, unless that’s your particular area of expertise. Well, here’s a device that wants to change that. BITalino is a simplified system for makers, app developers and researchers who want to quickly start capturing bio-signals.
The low cost (€149/$197 + shipping and taxes) kit of modular blocks includes a swathe of physiological sensors that can be broken out to use individually or linked together and used in whatever combination you’re after. BITalino’s approach is plug and play, to keep things as simple as possible. The sensors in the kit can interface with computing platforms such as Arduino (and derivatives) and Raspberry Pi, says project lead Hugo Silva. BITalino also includes Bluetooth connectivity so can be used in desktop and mobile environments.
“Currently there are several APIs for platforms including Android OS, Java or Python; BITalino is also cloud / web compatible through a software framework based on WebSockets, HTML5 and CSS3,” he tells TechCrunch.
Sensors included in the BITalino kit are:
The board also includes an LED block for visual feedback, a microcontroller unit and a power management block to power the other units.
The kit is the result of a collaboration between Portuguese bio-sensor maker, PLUX – Wireless Biosignals (co-founded by Silva in 2007), and a not-for-profit research centre in the country, called Instituto de Telecomunicações, where Silva is currently doing his PhD. He isn’t aiming to make money off the BITalino kit itself — hence its low cost and bootstrapped status.
“BITalino by itself won’t be a money maker; it is more thought out as a community driver/motivator,” he says. ”BITalino is sold with everything needed for people to start developing. The hardware prices start at €149 (+ shipping and taxes) and includes all the sensors and parts to jump start their work. The APIs and software framework is provided free of cost as well.
“Our goal with BITalino is to empower the community with basic tools for rapid prototyping of biosignal-based projects. We are looking forward to lower the prices even more as the production scales up.”
As well as its low relative cost – ”BITalino makes technologies that usually cost several thousands of dollars readily available for anyone at very low pricing”, according to Silva — he says the platform’s other disruptive factor is its goal of “democratising” bio-signal acquisition technologies. The grand aim behind that being to help bring down the cost of developing affordable medical devices for developing and low-income countries.
While BITalino overlaps somewhat, in competitive terms, with Arduino and (the also not-for profit) Raspberry Pi, Silva says it is carving out a niche by specialising in bio-signal capture and processing. ”The Arduino and Raspberry Pi platforms can be seen as competitors, however, biosignals have specific requirements (e.g. tolerance to noise, sampling frequency) for which these platforms are not particularly tuned, and many projects end up heavily bounded by the high cost and limited access to suitable hardware materials,” he says.
“The closest platform that one can find in this segment is the Libellium e-Health sensor platform for Arduino and Raspberry Pi, however the price point for this platform is above $500 and it does not provide either the same sensors, or the same versatility in terms of hardware and software. BITalino provides a framework for very integrated (stamp-like) systems to be developed, and has a growing and wide range of APIs and software tools.”
BITalino went on sale in mid August 2013 and just over 100 of the modular kits have been pre-ordered or sold to-date. Research institutions are a strong initial customer base, as you’d expect — but BITalino is also being targeted more broadly at students, hobbyists and app developers, so there’s plenty of scope for that number to grow.
“We’ve sold to countries ranging from U.S., South Africa, Italy, Spain, UK. BITalinos are already being used by people from institutions such as the MIT, University of Florida, Zurich University, among many others,” Silva adds.
Here’s a video demonstrating some possible use-cases for BITalino:
It is not every single day that you see an icon from the past get transformed to catch up with the times, albeit in a far more miniaturized form that would surely have confounded your ancestors – all without having to use a shrinking gun to boot. The first Mac ever, which so happens to be Apple’s iconic beige box that made its mark in many peoples’ consciousness in a memorable 1984 TV commercial, also proved to be the harbinger of GUI (Graphical User Interface) for consumers, while being the grand daddy of all all-in-one computers that seem to be all the rage these days where desktops are concerned. Here is an idea, how about remaking the original Mac in a far smaller form factor, and ensuring that it will also work as desired? This is where such a DIY project comes into play, where this Mini Mac will run with innards powered by a Raspberry Pi computer.
John Leake, a self-proclaimed Mac nerd, is the one behind this ⅓ scale Macintosh 512k (or 128k) replica, using white PVC as the building block of choice, in addition to a Raspberry Pi credit-card sized computer (motherboard), while fitting a small 3.5-inch LCD monitor – and all of this can be put together only if you have the relevant technical know how of doing so.
Apparently John Leake spent approximately a dozen hours building this particular working computer. The 3-millimeter-thick PVC was obtained from the sign shop where he works, where it was subsequently bent and carved in the manner that he wanted, and plenty of time was spent to ensure that the bezels end up looking right as rain. Of course, Leake did not rule out the possibility of using a 3D printer for future case builds. Other hardware features of this DIY Mini Mac include an HDMI out port, USB and Ethernet ports. It will boot from an SD memory card and runs Mini vMac, which happens to be an open-source Macintosh OS emulator that enables the Mac software to run without any hiccups across a range of operating systems, Linux included.
Source
[ Mini Mac has a Raspberry Pi heart copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Apple’s compact Mac mini isn’t as popular as it once was, but the company could easily make it a hot seller again if they just followed John Leake’s lead and turned it into a miniature Macintosh. At one-third the size of the original, it’s pretty much too cute to resist.
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What did you think of the movie “Ted”? I know that some parents actually thought that this was a movie that they could treat their little ones to, only to find out that the teddy bear is nothing like what they originally envisaged, being foul mouthed and all. Well, what you see above is a giant leap not only for mankind, but for teddy bears all over the world – especially when Babbage the bear is Raspberry Pi-powered.
This particular Babbage teddy bear has managed to recreate Felix Baumgartner’s record-breaking skydive, where Mr. Baumgartner performed the highest ever freefall in October last year as he jumped from a balloon about 39km up in the sky. A teddy bear known as Babbage has replicated this attempt from a similar height, all after making its way to the heaves via a hydrogen-filled balloon. Sporting the Raspberry Pi computer within, Babbage has managed to transmit his position as well as stills and video of his flight and descent. This is definitely the start of many other potential projects, don’t you think so? Most importantly, it does not require humans to risk life and limb in order to bring such an adrenaline pumping experience to the masses.
Babbage Pi-Powered Teddy Bear Takes To The Skies original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Most of the million+ $35/$25 Raspberry Pi microcomputers shipped to buyers to-date have been helping U.S.- and U.K.-based makers realise their electronics’ dreams. But the original mission of the project — to inspire a new generation of programmers — remains undimmed. Which makes this Indiegogo campaign, to kit out a rural African primary school with a Pi-powered computer lab, worth a nod.
Earlier this year, the Raspberry Pi Foundation flagged up a self-funded project by a Belgian volunteer group which took a bunch of Pis out to Cameroon to set up a computer lab in another rural African school. The Pi’s low cost price-tag, low energy consumption and support for open source software gives it plenty of potential to gain ground as a first computing platform in developing nations — provided the initial funding can be found to get the hardware out to where it’s needed. So enter crowdfunding platform Indiegogo, in the latest example, to help people push Pi further.
As with the Cameroon project, the Swaziland-based project creators behind the Indiegogo campaign want to use Pi to equip a school — namely Sidvokodvo Nazarane Primary School – with a computer lab for teaching purposes. They’re seeking to raise $2,550 to fund 10 Raspberry Pis used in conjunction with Motorola Atrix laptop docks (a neat combination if you want to use a Pi as a laptop) so they can function as standalone machines without the need to buy monitors and keyboards, plus connectors and spare parts to keep the lab running.
The project is almost at its target, with just over $200 left to raise. If it exceeds the target the money will go towards buying more Pi to increase the number of machines in the lab. One of the people behind the campaign, Piers Duffell, an American volunteer working in Swaziland, notes the Pis will be used for typing tutorials, word processing programs, access to offline versions of Wikipedia, the Khan Academy for mathematics, and may also be used to let kids dabble with programming. Which is exactly what the Pi Foundation was aiming for.
While you won’t get rich running a single Raspberry Pi Bitcoin Rig, you can probably make back your initial investment in this ingenious little machine. RaspPi Bitcoin rigs are nothing new but Dave Conroy has just built one and, more important, shared his plans in a fairly easy-to-read page.
The system uses the Pi as a main processor and a 330MH/s ASIC. In total he spent $127 on his kit and, as far as we can tell, the power outlay will be negligible.
The system uses an ARM-centric mining OS called MinePeon. It is basically a version of Arch Linux ARM with a few mining apps thrown in. Then all you need is a Bitcoin wallet and a little bit of time. Given that you’ll be mining at a maximum of 330MH/s, you probably will be seeing pennies a day, if that. If you’re absolutely new to Bitcoin, you can learn a bit more about how to set up all the accounts and wallets here. I think the real point, however, is the novelty of the kit.
It’s cool to see this little rig running and I think the wee USB-powered fan on top of it is the crowning touch. Put a couple dozen of these in a room and you could probably really do some damage and your farm will look sort of like Pikmin, which is a bonus.
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